🏗️Walls
Learn how to draw walls on maps with Hamina Network Planner.
Last updated
Learn how to draw walls on maps with Hamina Network Planner.
Last updated
Adding walls to the simulation is one of the most important parts of creating a predictive model for a wireless network. Adding walls (and attenuating objects) enables Hamina to calculate where signal strength will be decreased or blocked on the map.
Point to the Walls & Objects group in the toolbar, and select the Walls tool.
In the Walls pane on the right, select the Draw tab for manual drawing.
Activate the desired material by clicking on it in the list, or by pressing the associated hotkey.
On the map canvas, left-click once to start drawing a wall segment.
Left-click again to place the other end of the wall segment, completing the segment.
Continue left-clicking to chain multiple wall segments together.
Right-click to stop drawing wall segments.
While drawing walls, hold down the Space bar and move the mouse to pan. Since this panning method doesn't require any mouse clicks, it works great during wall drawing.
Hamina Network Planner can automatically trace walls on floor plans of indoor, "carpeted" space such as offices and schools. In warehouses, manufacturing environments, stadiums, outdoor maps, or on maps of low quality (like those that are meant for indoor navigation, and aren't for architectural or engineering purposes), manual drawing will be required.
Upload a new map to Hamina Network Planner.
Hamina Network Planner will attempt to detect the scale of the map, as indicated by the Analyzing Scale... message next the scale marker.
Once the scale analysis is complete, the scale marker will return to normal, but with a robot emoji 🤖, letting you know that the map is using an automatic scale.
Next, Hamina Network Planner will auto-trace the walls. When the tracing has been completed, a sparkle emoji ✨ will appear on the Walls tool. At this point, open the Walls tool.
The Walls pane will appear, where you can select between Draw and Auto-draw. With Auto-draw selected, you can change the material type for auto-detected walls and doors, and see a preview of the automatic walls on the map. When you're ready, click the Auto-draw walls button.
Further assign specific wall types by using the Edit tool to click, drag, and select groups of walls. Then use the Edit Walls pane or hotkeys to assign walls with hotkeys as desired.
While Hamina includes some pre-set wall types to get you started, it's a great idea to change the existing profiles, or create your own to make the predictive model as accurate as possible.
Hamina Network Planner doesn't utilize wall thickness, instead accepting attenuation in dB (decibels) as an input value. Walls are essentially modeled as flat planes, so the angle that the signal travels through the wall will not affect how much the signal is attenuated. If you need to model objects of a specific thickness (such as warehouse shelves, machinery, large concrete pillars, or very thick walls), consider using an Attenuating Object, which attenuates signal based on how far it has to travel through the object.
Hamina Network Planner accepts Attenuation in 5 GHz, and automatically calculates attenuation for other frequency bands (such as 2.4 and 6 GHz for Wi-Fi, or the various private cellular bands).
The calculation for frequencies other than 5 GHz is based on a curve, depending on the selected material type, from a ITU (International Telecommunication Union) research paper where RF propagation through materials was thoroughly tested. 5 GHz serves as the anchor for the curve, so adjusting the attenuation for 5 GHz moves the curve up and down. Lower frequencies (like 2.4 GHz) will see less attenuation, and slightly higher frequencies (such as 6 GHz) will see slightly more attenuation.
This greatly simplifies the data input process for the model. All that is needed to determine a wall's attenuation for any technology or frequency (including private cellular) is an inexpensive 5 GHz wireless router or access point, and any 5 GHz Wi-Fi client that can measure signal strength. See more in Measuring Wall Attenuation.
When the project is viewed in 3D, the wall thickness is adjusted to represent the attenuation of the walls. This effect is purely visual, and does not affect the simulation.
While the built-in defaults in Hamina are a good starting point, it's a great idea to take measurements of the walls in the real world, and input them into Hamina to increase the accuracy of the design. Modifying walls in one project does not affect your other Hamina projects.
Use a piece of hardware to create a 5 GHz network. This could be as complex as an AP-on-a-stick setup, or as simple as a 5 GHz hotspot on a smartphone. The idea is simply to create beacons in the 5 GHz band.
Post the AP 3 to 5 meters away from the wall that you want to measure. Signal strength tends to drop off quickly within the first two meters, making it more difficult to get accurate measurements.
Use a device that can measure RSSI, such as a Wi-Fi scanner (Wi-Fi Explorer Pro, MetaGeek inSSIDer), real-time packet analysis tool (MetaGeek App), or handheld Wi-Fi measurement device (Fluke AirCheck G1, or NetAlly AirCheck G2/G3), or our very own Hamina Onsite + Oscium Nomad. Take a signal strength measurement on the close side of the wall. Note the signal strength.
Take a signal strength measurement on the far side of the wall, and make note of it.
Subtract the first signal strength from the second. For example, if you saw -60 dBm on the close side, and -68 dBm on the far side, then you saw 8 dB of loss.
If you'd like, take several measurements and average them out before inputting them into Hamina. The more measurements you take, the more accurate Hamina's predictions will be, overall.
We recommend identifying the 3 to 5 most common types of walls in the building, getting measurements for them, and inputting them into Hamina Network Planner. That should give you reasonable accuracy, without taking too much time gathering data.
With the Draw Walls tool activated, the Draw Walls pane will appear on the right. Click on the Add or Modify button at the bottom.
The Wall Editor window will appear. From here, you can:
Edit existing wall profiles (click on the profile to edit it)
Duplicate wall profiles to create your own (click the Duplicate button in the wall profile)
Create your own (click the Add a custom wall button)
